If you’re online these days, or if you have been following our blog at all this week, chances are you’ve definitely heard of Bitcoins and how they are all the rage. Get caught up with some of our earlier Bitcoin Week posts like:

Great! Now that we're on the same page, here’s how using Bitcoin can help grow your business, whether brick and mortar, service, or online.

Lower Costs for Payment Acceptance - pay up to 90% less in transaction fees

Do you allow customers to pay with credit cards? Ever tallied up the total transaction fees you (or your customers) paid over the month? Average credit card fees hover around 2-3%. Paypal takes a whooping 6% cut. Bitcoin takes an amazing 0%. By accepting payments in bitcoins, you eliminate up to 90% of your transaction fees in one stroke. Notice that we said up to 90%. Certain types of transactions such as a bitcoin withdrawal, conversion, or a very large bitcoin transfer typically attract a fee. The fee, if and when it is required, usually averages out to less than $0.40 USD. Who wouldn’t like that? You can look up more info on the transaction fees at
http://bitcoinfees.com/.

Go International - reach out to customers across the globe

Before the advent of Bitcoin, Paypal was the best way to accept international payments. Unfortunately, Paypal currently extends to less than 60 countries. Oh, and did we mention the Paypal transaction fees? With Bitcoin your customers can pay for your products from truly
anywhere in the world - as long as they have an internet connection. Neither you, nor your customer, has to bother with currency conversion, conversion rates, or wire-transfer fees. This is the primary reason why many businesses have embraced bitcoins - including
Wordpress and Pyramid Valley Vineyards.

Empower Your Customers - Protect their identity

In some cases, your customers may be wary of revealing their identity or credit card information as identity theft has become a major concern. On the other side of the spectrum, we have examples such as that of an
actress suing IMDB for revealing her age - which the company supposedly got from her credit card details. Bitcoin transactions require only a bitcoin address, and a bitcoin wallet. It does not require any other information. This means Bitcoin is an discreet way for you to service customers who are concerned with their identity being revealed.

Direct Marketing - Bitcoin community meet-ups

There are regular
bitcoin meet-ups in almost every major city. The profile of the average bitcoin user can provide some insight into whether bitcoins are right for you. The bitcoin users' demographic is primarily male, 26-32 years old, and affluent. If this is a match to the customer profile you are targeting (and even if it's not) then hop over to the nearest Bitcoin meet-up now. You can gain valuable information by directly asking the group whether they’d be interested in seeing - or even helping - your business accept bitcoins. Bitcoin users, are a bit of an evangelist group. They love talking about it. if you’re a restaurant or pub, offer to host the next bitcoin meet-up or better still, buy them a round of drinks, with bitcoins! That’s as good as direct marketing gets!

Media Coverage - Leverage the Bitcoin publicity network

The media, and "Bitcoiners", are happy to spread the word and cover each new Bitcoin convert, especially businesses. The CheeseWizard food truck magically shot to fame after being covered by
GeekWire and receiving press coverage. Pubs, restaurants, and even bitcoin Pizza delivery companies are riding the wave of Bitcoin publicity. Most Bitcoin processing systems like BitPay, Coinbase and BitMerch have their own blogs or pages publicizing businesses that are joining the Bitcoin bandwagon. For a business owner, that translates to high-quality publicity, at almost no cost.

Connect with Customers - Share your vision

You can use bitcoins as a way to connect even better with your customers. Your patrons want to buy from businesses they can identify with, that have a vision and personality. Announce that you’re now accepting bitcoins and use this as a platform to reinforce your core values. Share a bit of your vision and personality in the announcement, the way Overstock CEO, Patrick M Byrne did with
his announcement on CNBC. Give customers a way to identify better with your business. This can work exceptionally well if your customer profile hovers around the bitcoin user demographic we mentioned earlier.

These are just
some of the ways you can use Bitcoin to fuel your business. So what are you waiting for? Check out
these
top 5 Bitcoin apps that you can use to get started on your Bitcoin journey. And do write-in to share your experiences. What has worked best for you? What hasn't worked as well?